Kawal Tiger Reserve in Telangana has everything a tiger needs: prey, space, and connectivity to neighboring reserves. But only 15 tigers have ever entered since 2015; and just two were females. Why? Because infrastructure doesn’t just block roads; it breaks wildlife corridors. Female tigers, especially, won’t risk crossing highways or electrified fences to raise cubs. Meanwhile, the reserve still houses 37 villages, and Adivasi communities say relocation promises were never kept. Even ‘assisted dispersal’; airlifting tigers in; won’t fix what’s broken. The real problem? We keep designing India for machines, not wildlife. And tigers are just the canary in the coal mine.